


Past the Point

by marimoes



Category: One Piece
Genre: Lucci wants to keep his distance and Paulie won't let him, M/M, Mention of rope play, Pre-Canon, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:57:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22333756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marimoes/pseuds/marimoes
Summary: He does this every time; leaves after their encounter with a single chaste kiss placed on Paulie’s lips before slipping into the darkness. An action that will leave Paulie reeling for the next twelve hours until he sees him again. Sealing his thoughts to just Lucci alone while he rests in the unmade bed of their previous passion.Maybe if he could get him to stay — could he find more?
Relationships: Paulie/Rob Lucci
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	Past the Point

**Author's Note:**

> There is just something so amazingly sad about Paulie/Lucci...so many years of lies.

Their encounters like a flower, easily crushed at the slightest movement, Lucci and Paulie find themselves held. Always left in a balance of pleasure and pain, holding still as they stare the other down, unwilling to relent. It’s fine, Paulie thinks, as Lucci curls his very own rope between his slender fingers. Fine, when Lucci pulls it tightly around his wrists, locking him to the bowing bar of the headboard. 

It’s seen better days since the two got involved with one another, and each time they’re together it begs to break. A wild and low creak that crescendos until everything stops at once. Breeze entering the room in a quick rush, and it breathes across the men in its wake. Always stopping to draw a chill to the reddened skin that it kisses, leaving Lucci to finally fold and undo the restraints. 

The act is over, leaving them lie next to each other in the deafening silence once more. No more creaking to fill the void of noise mixed with Paulie’s huffing. Now they just wait until Paulie breaks. 

And he always breaks. 

“You’re destroyin’ my bed.” Paulie mutters, reaching blindly to his side table. His hand works quickly to tug open the small drawer before rummaging inside of it for a cigar. When his fingers wrap around it, a different relief pours over him. A comfort of the usual as he brings it up to rest between his teeth. “Why do we never go over to yours, anyways?” 

Lucci doesn’t respond. He never does in Paulie’s bed, being mute and leaving Hattori away on the nights he’s here. Instead, he looks over. The light of the street lamp that sits outside of Paulie’s apartment filters through, and paints bars across Lucci’s face. A warm gold mixing against his skin in odd ways that leaves Paulie’s chest tight, but he doesn’t look away. 

Lucci simply blinks slowly. An answer in and of itself, and one that Paulie didn’t want. A look that said, ‘Because, I don’t want to.’ and Paulie huffs. What if  _ he  _ didn’t want to, huh? What if  _ he _ was tired of the looks that his next door neighbor kept giving him when they ran into each other at the market. What if  _ he _ would like a chance to peek just a little further into the man he’s sleeping with’s life?

“That’s a shitty answer.” Legs pushing forward, Paulie readjusts against the headboard and it groans beneath his back. He’s really going to have to shop for another one soon, but he’d rather not spend the money if it’s going to end up like this again.

Hopefully it would, anyways. 

Lucci mirrors him, sweeping his legs to bring himself up to sit, but instead of leaning back next to Paulie, he stands. The bed groans under the loss of weight, shifting Paulie higher against the headboard, and he lets his eyes flit over to Lucci. White tank barely clinging onto his body, it’s molded against every curve of his sweat covered back and Paulie can’t help but stare. The man is chiseled, seemingly made of stone itself. 

In so many ways than one. 

“Aw, come on. Don’t leave.” Paulie groans and leans over the bed, hand reaching out. His fingers wiggle softly, play still in them, and Lucci looks back with a single sharp eye. “Stay with me for once, Lucci.” 

He does this every time; leaves after their encounter with a single chaste kiss placed on Paulie’s lips before slipping into the darkness. An action that will leave Paulie reeling for the next twelve hours until he sees him again. Sealing his thoughts to just Lucci alone while he rests in the unmade bed of their previous passion. 

Maybe if he could get him to stay — could he find more? 

Dark tangled hair splays across Lucci’s shoulders, and when he goes to gather it, Paulie hesitates. Precise fingers working gently to comb through before winding it up into place, and it’s an act of intimacy that Paulie would’ve scoffed at if someone told him about it. Now, watching Lucci slowly work on putting himself back together under the shade of the night, it’s everything. 

Like a skilled violinist, pulling against strings, tuning them into place. Tightening and loosening back and forth until the right pitch rings forth, and Paulie wants to be those strings. Anything to push closer to the man that holds his distance from him, regardless of their skin pressing against each other over and over. 

Sex is not true intimacy with Lucci, and Paulie knows it. 

Again, he wiggles his fingers, hand guiding down to rest on the empty side of his bed. There is nothing that Lucci will do unless he wants it, so he waits, eyes resting eagerly while his heart pumps harder in his chest. When a small smile quirks at Lucci’s lips, Paulie nearly gasps out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. 

A buzz higher than any liquor he’s tasted floods him as Lucci rests against the edge of the bed, hand reaching back to stroke against Paulie’s. He’s always cold, fingers like ice, and nails that could and do draw blood. Paulie has watched Lucci over this past year closely, trying to figure out how the man ticks, but also in amazement. 

The way he holds himself against the trouble that often comes knocking on the docks — near poetry. Fluid motions met alongside his equally fluid skills, it’s no surprise that Paulie fell like putty into his hands only weeks after he started at the company. A relent that left them butting heads for weeks, and leaving Paulie to push the collar of his jacket up for a week. 

“I don’t mind, you know.” Paulie says after Lucci settles deeper into the bed, and he pats his lap once. Falling back against his thighs, Lucci follows the request, smile still pulled tight in the corners of his mouth. Why he smiles when he does, Paulie desperately wishes he knew. 

Just another thing to add to his never ending list. 

“I know you can’t speak without Hattori with you, and I know that you don’t want to bring him here when we’re together, but that doesn’t mean you have to run off every time. I mean, how else are we going to go further if you’re always a step away?” Paulie muses with his hand curling around the top of Lucci’s head, and as he speaks Lucci crosses his legs. A soft bounce of his foot pacing along with Paulie’s words. 

Lucci’s eyebrows knit at the word “further” before he releases them. Paulie doesn’t catch it, as his eyes are far away out the window, looking out onto the water of the street. His fingers roughly grace Lucci’s forehead, thumb stroking consistent lines into his skin. The feeling of having him captured, if only like this, if only for now, Paulie knows he was right to want it. 

“I’m not crazy, am I?” Paulie mumbles and looks back down to Lucci, demanding him to meet his eyes. “Am I a fling for you? I  _ thought _ we were getting closer, but every time I think about it, I’m not so sure anymore. What’s it going to take?” 

Lucci blinks, slow, and when he reopens his eyes they hover half closed. He’s thinking, Paulie knows, and when Lucci again closes his eyes he nearly curses. It’s a game that they’re playing, pulling cards one at a time, and Paulie keeps being sent two steps back every other round. Just so that he gets the  _ hope _ of moving ahead. 

Lucci dangling something far greater than a prize in front of his face. 

“I want to stay over at yours. Tomorrow.” 

Lucci’s eyes fly open at the words, and when they meet Paulie’s there is fire dancing in them. His cigar is gone, fallen onto the bed along with the discoloration of sweat on the sheets, and Paulie’s teeth are clenched together. He’s not asking, not even for a foot of clearance, but demanding to knock down the wall that stands between them. 

“I stay over tomorrow, or I don’t think I can keep doing this.” The words come pressed through Paulie’s teeth and Lucci raises out of his lap before he can finish his sentence. Final words carried harshly between the non existent space, noses almost touching. “Don’t mess this up, Lucci. Think about it.” 

Lucci presses forward, lips bruisingly hard against Paulie’s, and they mold together. Tongues that slip against one another in a silent discussion before settling into the norm. Again, the world is lost to Paulie. It’s sank beneath the horizon of Lucci’s teeth that tug against his bottom lip. A void now taken up by the weak groan that mixes between them as they struggle to readjust. 

They pull apart if only for a second and Lucci wraps his hand around Paulie’s chin, guiding him to stare. A heaving chest pushing wildly between them as Paulie tries to capture air that his lungs won’t hold, not now. Lucci nods and Paulie feels his mouth open in debate for the denial, but catches himself, held until his mind catches up. 

“Yes?” Paulie asks, word painting across Lucci’s lips and he again nods. “Don’t fuck with me. I’ll kick your ass if you’re lying to me just to shut me up.” 

Lucci tightens his lips to seal a laugh that nearly escapes and Paulie’s eyes fall. 

“Could you take me seriously, for once in your life?” The plea is laced with humor, but behind it Lucci knows that Paulie is being sincere. That this young man, desperate to make his place in the company and in the world is begging to be acknowledged — but only by Lucci. “The way you an’ Kaku look when you’re working, it’s like you’re in a different world. Let me in.” 

At this, Lucci again tightens his lips, and when Paulie goes to pull away he holds him tightly in place. Nails digging into the scruff of his chin, both men biting at the other without their teeth. Lucci desperately wishes for Hattori to be here now, to talk Paulie down from the cliff that he continues to climb and balance on the edge of, but at the same time it’s better this way. 

Easier if he can’t falter behind speech. 

So, instead Lucci tries to speak with his lips in another way, letting them slip between Paulie’s as he huffs once more. He holds on, tugging Paulie forward away from the headboard and it’s when he whines out between Lucci’s teeth, Paulie knows he’s lost again. The ever present battle that wages between them is over for now, and Paulie lets himself go. 

Hands pressing harder, Paulie weaves up around Lucci’s neck, tearing the tie from his hair. It spills like fresh ink on paper, and it’s only seconds before it’s wound around Paulie’s fingers again. Guided like the ropes he holds so close, knitting his control into whatever he can find. When he pulls Lucci back, lips leaving his with a pop, there is surprise in his eyes. 

“I know there’s no going back from here. I know that,” Paulie murmurs, words hanging between them while his fingers wind tighter behind Lucci’s head. “but I won’t make you sorry.” 

A hum gets caught in Lucci’s throat and it lands crooked as he swallows it back down. The sound jilted like a record jumping tracks while they try to move forward. Paulie doesn’t move at the noise, doesn’t soften in his hold as his partner readjusts with a silent sigh. Lucci’s eyes again close, but when they open, they’re turned away from Paulie. Instead, they’re up, staring at the ceiling in what feels like prayer.

“Do you want to stay still? Am I talking too much?” Paulie asks, hands going slack from their hold, and Lucci’s eyes quickly fall to meet his. “We can sleep. Talk about this tomorrow — when you can talk.” 

Lucci again smiles, this time letting his teeth barely show, and leans back out of Paulie’s hold. The only thing between them now is again the dead of night, racing headfirst towards a morning full of answers. Ones that Paulie can tell even Lucci is unsure of now. 

That doesn’t matter. 

What matters is where there was once a blurred starting line, a shaky beginning where Paulie stumbled to even find the track, there is now a single point. One that when he crosses it, the world behind him will fade away, forcing him forward with no other choice. A path that few have likely tread before.

Paulie will do anything to be the next. 

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: @__moes__  
> Tumblr: @noswordstyle


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